You may or may not be aware of this, but Malta’s notarial law still requires people to declare their marital status.

Unless you’re a man, of course.

However, things finally seem to be changing. Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola has filed a complaint with the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality, warning that the current law is discriminatory against women. 

Article 28(1)(c)i) of the Notarial Profession and Archives Act requires that on any official contract in the presence of Notary: “Provided that where any of the parties to the act is a woman, it shall also be stated whether she is a spinster, a married woman or a widow”.

In 2017, Marie-Therese Cuschieri won a constitutional case against the declaration in violation of her fundamental rights in the European Convention of Human Rights.

However, while she no longer has to provide her marital status, the law itself hasn’t changed and other women are still required to do so.

In a ruling handed down today, Malta’s Equality Commissioner Renee Laiviera agreed that the law was discriminatory and urged Parliament to change it immediately.

“We cannot accept that in this day and age, battles hard-won by women to equalise their treatment in the eyes of the law and of society are confined to ink and paper and not implemented in practice,” Metsola said.

“Now we need the Parliament to act – it must immediately change the law and send out a strong signal that women will not be discriminated against.”

PN MP and equality spokesperson Claudette Buttigieg has also presented a private members bill to address the issue and change the law in Parliament.

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